The status of Steppe Buzzard B b vulpinus in
the Netherlands has been controversial for a long time. The
subspecies was placed on the Dutch list based on several old specimens
and a
number of undocumented field observations. However, after a revision
the majority of these records were no longer considered acceptable (van
Duivendijk 2011).
Currently, there are two records of Steppe Buzzard on the Dutch list.
The first refers to an adult male collected at Hof van Twente,
Overijssel, on 16 April 1902, the second to an adult male collected at
Valkenburg aan de Geul, Limburg, on 11 April 1918 (not 1908,
as mentioned in van Duivendijk (2011)). The status of a first-winter
female collected at Deurne, North Brabant, on 10 November 1908,
was somewhat unclear. The annual report on rare birds in the
Netherlands stated
that this specimen too remained acceptable after revision (Ovaa
et al 2009), however, little later it was rejected after all (van
Duivendijk 2011). Note that both Ovaa et al (2009) and van
Duivendijk (2011) mentioned wrong dates for this record (10 November 1902 and 16 November 1908, respectively). |